Sumitranandan Pant

Sumitranandan Pant (सुमित्रानन्‍दन पंत) (May 201900ndash December 28, 1977) was one of the most famous modern Hindi poets. He is considered one of the major poets of the "Chhayavaadi" school of Hindi literature. Pant mostly wrote in Sanskritized Hindi. Pant authored twenty eight published works including poetry, verse plays and essays.

Pant was born at Kausani village of Bageshwar, in the hills of Kumaon. His mother died within a few hours of his birth. He was given the name Gosain Dutt. His initial schooling took place in Almora. After matriculation he moved to Kalakankar near Prayag. He did not like his name so he gave himself a new name "Sumitranandan Pant".

The mark of the childhood in the hills can be seen in his works and his poems resound with an echo of the beauty of nature. He was a shy and girlish child and his classmates often used to tease him calling him 'girl'. For his graduation, Pant went to Prayag University. On hearing Mahatma Gandhi's call for Satyagraha, he left college. However, he continued his education by reading English, Sanskrit and Bengali literature. After some time, he went to Sri Aurobindo's ashram at Pondicherry.

Apart from "Chhayavaadi" poems, Pant also wrote progressive, philosophical (influenced by Sri Aurobindo), socialist and humanist poems.

Pant received Jnanpith Award for collection of his most famous poems, titled "Chidambara". He was awarded the "Nehru Peace Prize" by the Soviet Union for "Lokayatan".

Pant's childhood house, in Kausani, has been converted into a museum. This museum displays his daily use articles, drafts of his poems, letters, his awards etc.

Major works

* "Chinti"
* "Chidambara"
* "Veena" (1927)
* "Uchchhavaas"
* "Pallav" (1926)
* "Granthi" (1929)
* "Gunjan" (1932)
* "Lokayatan"
* "Pallavini"
* "Madhu Jwala"
* "Manasi"
* "Vaani"
* "Yug Path"
* "Satyakaam"
* "Anguthita"
* "Gramya"
* "Tarapath"
* "Mukti Yagnya"
* "Yugant"
* "Swachchand"

External links

* [http://hi.literature.wikia.com/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%A8_%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A4 Sumitranandan Pant at Kavita Kosh]
* [http://geeta-kavita.com/article.asp?article=angoothita Poem “Anguthita” by Sumitra Nandan Pant in Devnagari script.]
* [http://www.anubhuti-hindi.org/gauravgram/snp/index.htm Sumitranandan Pant in Anubhuti]
* [http://www.kritya.in/0201/En/editors_choice.html Selected poems by Sumitanandan Pant translated by Elizabeth Kurian ‘Mona’]
* [http://pustak.org/bs/home.php?author_name=Sumitranandan%20Pant See further details of his books at Pustak.org]